Fast-growing tyre wholesaler, GB Tyres, has begun construction of its new Oldbury tyre “storage and distribution facility”. As we reported back in September 2022, despite existing storage space of roughly 250,000 square feet across two large sites in the midlands the business requires much more space.
Nexen Tire is considering eight southeastern US states as the possible location for a new $1.3-billion tyre factory project. According to stock market filing published on 18 May, Nexen is set to make a decision on the project by the end of 2023, with a view to getting the factory operational by 2028-2029.
Nokian Tyres has initiated work on its Oradea, Romania passenger car tyre factory, billed as the tyre industry’s first zero CO2 emission plant. An event marking the groundbreaking was attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă. The President of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan, and other high-level Romanian and Finnish officials also participated along with the chair of Nokian Tyres’s board of directors Jukka Hienonen. The first tyres are estimated to be produced in the second half of 2024. Commercial tyre production is expected to start in early 2025.
Nokian Tyres’s well-publicised exit from Russia has left it with a similarly well-reported production gap that continues to impact the company’s ongoing business. Speaking as part of the company’s first quarter 2023 results presentation, Nokian Tyres executives emphasised that “new capacity is our #1 priority” and shared further details of how they are planning to fill the firm’s production gap. We already knew that Nokian plans to expand its existing factories in Nokia, Finland and Dayton, USA as well as build a new factory in Romania and make off-take contracts with third-party manufacturers, what’s new is the detail and time frames associated with “building the new Nokian Tyres”.
In late March 2023 Lodge Tyre’s Manchester operation opened new “bigger and better” premises. The “extensively refurbished” location in Mode Wheel Road South, Salford, Greater Manchester boasts over 7,500 square feet of internal space plus an extensive commercial vehicle servicing area.
Alongside an exclusive tour of Linglong Tire’s new European production base in Serbia, Tyres & Accessories sat down with chairman Wang Feng in a conversation that covered topics including the company’s plans for its latest factory in Serbia, the location of its next manufacturing investment and the fast-growing tyre manufacturer’s strategic goals.
LD Carbon is on the brink of closing a 10-year tyre pyrolysis oil contract with a South Korean oil firm. Tyres & Accessories understands that the 10-year deal will be worth around $25 million a year, making the whole contract worth around $250 million.
Linglong Tire will build its next tyre factory in the Americas region. Tyres & Accessories learnt the news during a recent interview with Linglong Tire chairman Wang Feng, which took place alongside an exclusive tour of the company’s new European tyre production facility in Serbia.
VMI is celebrating the opening of three new assembly halls at its manufacturing site in Leszno, Poland. This brings VMI’s total available floor space in Poland to almost 30,000 square meters. The expansion of the VMI operation, which is part of technology company TKH, follows a number of years of strong growth in VMI’s core tyre and pharmaceutical business.
Nokian Tyres is investing approximately US$174 million to double tyre capacity at its factory in the USA and to expand warehousing capabilities at the Dayton, Tennessee site. This project will lead to the creation of 75 new jobs at the Dayton facility this year, and the expansion will also enable Nokian to add light truck tyres to the plant’s product mix in 2023.
Founded in July 2019 by Steve Donnithorne, CL Tyres Ltd is a relative newcomer in the industrial tyre business. However, in this case, that youth belies the experience behind the business, something that another of the company’s director’s, Steve Pye, explained to Tyres & Accessories during the recent IMHX exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham at the start of September 2022.
Emerald Resilient Tyre Manufacturers Pvt Ltd has launched a new range of solid skid-steer tyres at the IMHX 2022 exhibition in association with the company’s UK distributor, World Wide Tyre Marketing (Fork Truck Tyres Ltd).
According to the company, Emerald is the largest Indian solid and pneumatic tyre manufacturing and exporting company and was proud to launch the new range, which is available both with and without apertures.
From a standing start less than a decade ago, GB Tyres is now aiming to be a key player in the UK wholesale business. When the company’s full-year financial results come in at the end of August, turnover will have reached £53 million. So, in other words, the business is trucking along nicely and making good progress towards its goals. Tyres & Accessories met up with Commercial Director Graham Hutchison and founder Sukhi Singh to visit the company’s Tipton headquarters and relatively new Oldbury wholesale warehouse.
At the end of July, Chinese tyre cord manufacturer Xingda announced that it is investing 1.6 billion yuan (£200 million; 232.432 million euros; $237 million) adding 200,000 tons of steel cord annual production capacity to its Thailand factory. The planned construction period is 24 months and the project has been officially approved by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
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Valokuvaaja/Nokian Tyres
Lodge Tyres; Absolute Group
Linglong
Yokohama
VMI
CL Tyres
Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Xingda